What’s up at the Ivies: Five Guys and Far East Movement edition

This is a regular feature that takes a look at what’s going on at other schools in the Ivy League.

Harvard University

When it comes to music, Yale seems to be one step ahead of its northern rival. The Harvard College Concert Commission officially announced on Thursday the performers for Yardfest, the University’s spring College-wide concert. The lineup currently includes Far East Movement, The White Panda and Sam Adams. Sound familiar? Sam Adams performed at Toad’s last semester and Berkeley Master Marvin Chun dressed up as the Far East Movement for Halloween. We are still waiting, however, for the full spring fling line-up.

Princeton University

For students who can never seem to find their keys, Princeton’s new lockout policy may come as an unwelcome surprise. Students recently locked out of their rooms recently received cards featuring the fees they will incur when let into their rooms by Public Safety officers. The cards also noted that there will be “disciplinary action for repeat offenders.” Since when did losing your keys become a crime?

Columbia University

As if New York City didn’t already offer enough, Columbia students rejoiced on Wednesday at the grand opening of the popular burger-and-fries chain Five Guys. But Yalies, do not fret. Rumor has it that Chipotle is coming to New Haven, and who needs burgers when you have burritos? (There’s also a Five Guys not too far from campus on 75 Amity Road)

Dartmouth College

At a forum sponsored by the Dartmouth Student Assembly on Tuesday, Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim answered student concerns regarding the College’s tuition increase, new meal plan, recent resignation of minority faculty members and campus social spaces. While defending Dartmouth’s higher tuition, Kim cited University President Richard Levin, saying that a four-year college degree increases an individual’s income by 40 percent.

University of Pennsylvania

Talk is cheap but reading the New York Times isn’t. Starting March 28, the Times will charge users who read more than 20 articles a month. For Penn students, who no longer receive free printed copies of the Times after the Undergraduate Assembly unanimously voted against it, this may be especially difficult. Although the Assembly said they’d be willing to partner with the newspaper for a university-wide subscription, they declined a Times offer to grant a $2-3 discount for Penn students.

Brown University

Brown students showed their true colors on Wednesday, donning rainbow blankets and passing out rainbow pins to rally against demonstrators from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, who arrived on campus to stage a protest against gay marriage. While demonstrators carried a sign reading “God’s Marriage = 1 Man & 1 Woman,” University students chanted “Hey ho, homophobia’s got to go” and “two, four, six, eight, get our hate out of our state!” as two female students kissed in front of the crowd. When the demonstrators packed up their banners to leave, about 150 students cheered their departure as a student saxophonist played the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Cornell University

Cornell officially withdrew recognition of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity following the death of one of its brothers, George Desdunes ’13, who was found unresponsive in the SAE house before his later death at Cayuga Medical Center. According to administrators, students at the SAE house failed to call for medical help when Desdunes became incapacitated from alcohol consumption. All SAE members are required to vacate the house by March 31 and will have access to campus housing.

jorge_julio

this is just petty

Sillitar13

I don’t know how else I can express this: Yalies do not want coverage of other Ivies when you barely cover Yale student life as it is. Period. If anyone were to judge using the YDN as a representative guide, then well, apparently nothing ever happens on campus. Perhaps with the exception of things that are already published in other news sources (lazy journalism) – otherwise everything else is about New Haven / the World.

It would be nice to have a Daily that actually covered campus life, and not some mini undergraduate NYTimes clone. The NYTimes though actually has (excellent) coverage of its home. What about the YDN’s home? No, I don’t mean New Haven, though it too is very important. I mean its most immediate, closest home. What are the student groups doing? Events? Concerts? Debates? Plays? Master’s Teas? Traditions? Stories? IMs? College spirit? Academics on all sides of the matter? The things that make Yale special? Anything? Bueller?

Instead, we get confabulated, overblown administration stories making news out of non-news. That’s the closest we get to coverage of student life, apparently. No, Weekend doesn’t count – its bent is too exclusive and artsy to be representative. Yes, I realize the YDN does cover these things I’ve mentioned – but at its whim. Occasionally. A bonus, if you will. That’s certainly how it comes off to many students. Too often an issue will come by with seemingly no coverage of student life. Cross Campus at the very least helped show some sides of student life and a nice fun, quirky bent when it started out, but alas, it too has degraded to news aggregation and reporting every time Harvard scratches its ass. Maybe comparing yourselves to the Crimson FlyBy Blog will serve as a much needed kick in the pants to realize what’s missing from the YDN: soul.

It’s hard to complain when it’s free, but there’s a good case for it when its name is the *Yale* Daily News. The way things are going, you might be more accurate changing the name to “The Daily News (at Yale).”